430 Hps bulb in a 400w fixture

thrawn

Well-Known Member
Hey gents, I bought a 400w hps with a magnetic ballast off craigslist. (Actually from a professor at my university haha to cool) He had been using a 430 watt bulb in a 400 w fixture for one grow season. Im having heat heat issues in my closet and am wondering whether the extra 30 watts that is being compensated for has any negative impacts of heat/safety/electricity.

Thanks you
 

Bubba Kushman

Well-Known Member
Any extra Watts creates more heat. But another 30 watts is not a lot more. Try venting some air into the attic if you can? If not use a small vent booster and vent between the walls.. Good Luck!
 

thrawn

Well-Known Member
im using a high powered squirrel fan to suck air from the top of the closet into the space between walls. With the HPS on it stays around 88 degrees though. Thats whith 2 oscillating fans, one pushing air around the bottom, and another shooting from below into the hood to try and get the air out from around the bulb. Still no luck. I even punched a new hole in the wall, in another section of it that is, and put a metal screen over hoping that it could suck some air from downstairs into the cab without bringing a mess of bugs with it. Hasnt been working as well as i thought.

Im going to post a grow journal soon so it might better to address these questions in there. Before I do toss on the light id like to figure this out tho. It stays at 78 under my t5 flouros. Im growing hindu kush from sensi seeds.
 
instead of having the squirrel cage fan do that get a air cooledreflector/cooltube and use it to vent the bulb...the bulb is where the heat is coming from
 

thrawn

Well-Known Member
Its gotten cold up here already which has worked out perfect and I have devised a plan that got my temps down to 82 on average with the HPS on for 5 hours!!!

Basically when I keep the lights on, during the day, I open all my windows and have a fan blow down the hallway towards my room. The cold air from the outside gets my room down to 50, and the fan moving air down the hallway has lowered the temps outside my room almost 10 degrees.

So it sucking in cold air from both sides, plus the sick airflow down the hall has totally solved my problem.

Stick around for a 400hps closet hindu kush grow in the next couple days dudes. Im ready to show this shit off to all you guys. And of course hear everything I can change.peace
 

XReddiWipX

Well-Known Member
Sounds like he had a Son Agro bulb in there. That's the only one that I've heard of that's 430w. That extra bit of wattage is boosted blue light and they are some of the best bulbs out there. In fact, that's the exact bulb I wanted to get for my set up and my local hydro place said that can't keep them in stock. Also, it's fine to run it in a 400w system.
 

XReddiWipX

Well-Known Member
I can't explain all of what makes it different and/or better... But, if you do a Google search for "Son Agro 430", you'll see plenty of stuff and you'll fall in love with what it will do for your plants.
 

thrawn

Well-Known Member
bomb, i checked it and it is a son agro bulb. what are the odds that craigslist would connect me with a college professor who knows how to grow proper pot
 

thrawn

Well-Known Member
if i can afford the temps and the electricity, should i toss the two week old seedlings, (only about 2 inches high) under the hps or keep it under my two feet t5?
 
keep them under the t5 until they are a month old by then they should be able to handle the h.i.d...people start with hid when they have no other light or choice but if you got the t5s then use them until your plants are fully stable
 

XReddiWipX

Well-Known Member
That Son Agro is the epitome of a start to finish HID light from what I've read and been told. It's a 'one bulb' version of best of a MH and HPS without having to switch between two bulbs or have two ballasts. I put mine under an EYE Hortilux bulb (HPS400w) from the point I got it set up on. Which was about two weeks in to growing. Again, the only reason I'm using that Eye Hortilux and not what you have, is because my hydro shop can't manage to keep the Son Agro's in stock and were out that day and I wanted to get going ASAP being that my plants had already sprouted. And the EYE Hortilux was the closest thing to the Son Agro they had in stock.

I'd keep your little ones going under the HPS and hell, the more light the better from I can tell. Use those T5's as side lighting.

With the weather cooling down you'll most likely be alright when it comes to heat. Put them on an 18/6 to 20/4 lighting schedule and have the 'off time' happen during the hottest part of the day.. Oh, and fans, fans will help quite a bit when it comes to that. I've got a $10 end of summer special from Home Depot. My room has no air conditioner or heater and gets no hotter than upper 70's and no cooler than lower 70's. You're not going to have the heat issues you would with a 1000w bulb by any means. The big problem I ran in to was how far up from the plants to put that light... I've seen everything from one to four feet. You can ask that question here and every answer will be different. My light housing has tempered glass under the bulb and I keep it between 16 and 18 inches off the top of the plants. I came to that height by matching the heat given off on the back of my hand just above the plant tops to what it would be on a sunny day. That very well might not be the best way and it might not work for you... I don't have enough experience to advise you on that. But, others do!

As for the power consumption issue. Depending on what your electric company charges you per kilowatt hour, you're looking at an extra 15 to 30 bucks a month on your electric bill. I'm a very paranoid person when it comes to such things, things that are out of my control, like meter readers telling the cops about how much juice I'm using... So, for a few month prior to doing this, I used a little bit more electricity than normal (kept the A/C a bit cooler, left a porch light on at night, didn't bitch when the little lady held the refrigerator door open too long) and when I was ready to roll with my new light, I replaced every normal light bulb in the house with CFL's which took my total 'normal' light usage down from just over a possible 2500w to about 600w and stopped leaving my computer (which has a 450w power supply) on 24/7. 400 Watts isn't all that hard to hide and it's not that expensive. Again, I'm not an expert. But, from what I've read about the 'electric bill can get you busted' thing is that... A) 9 times out of 10 they already have to be looking at you before they check that and that 10th one is some jack ass at the power company trying to help a friend or relative out that's a cop. And B) It's a large spike that will get you noticed. Look at it like this, you ever have one of those six-foot tall torch lamps that were big in the 80's & 90's, those things were 500w at full brightness. For folks like you and me (small timers) a little cutting back here and there will more than hide a 400w bulb. As for the T5's, you can offset that by making your morning toast in the broiler of a gas stove in stead of the electric toaster.

Not knowing any of the finer points of your set up and me sill being a VERY rank amateur, the only other problem I can for see that you'll have to deal with is SMELL! Pour over this site and you'll find a wealth of information on carbon scrubbers and how to make them for a few dollars.

Good luck and be safe! :)
 

XReddiWipX

Well-Known Member
Oh, if there are any old timers out there. Would you please comment on that previous post. I'd like to know if I've said or am doing anything that's horribly wrong.

Thanks a bunch!
 

XReddiWipX

Well-Known Member
keep them under the t5 until they are a month old by then they should be able to handle the h.i.d...people start with hid when they have no other light or choice but if you got the t5s then use them until your plants are fully stable
Damn good suggestion! My plant were growing very well when I went HID and I started with the light six feet above the plants and lowered it a few inches a day. What wyteberrywidow suggests is the way I would have love to have gone had I had the money to have more lights.
 

thrawn

Well-Known Member
much appreciated man, great response. I am going to get a grow journal up asap Im just waiting for a couple free hours. There looking great under the t5, lots of new growth after I transplanted them from peat pellets, which are fucking shitty as hell, into 1.5 qt pots. Id like to save the hours on this bulb so Ill hit em with the t5 for another couple weeks.

wait up for the journal brothas. thanks
 
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